(more) Strange and Mundane Spots in Super Mario Sunshine 

Obviously non-teleporting creatures enter Bianco hills via chucksters

I swear to god I could watch 5 hours of this shit, I've been obsessed with the world of Sunshine ever since I was a child and that appreciation for its weird little spots only gets stronger as the years go by :')

Part of why Mario looks naked without FLUDD in this game is because his sleeves are rolled up. You don't normally see his bare arms.

I always thought Big Daddy and his surfing bloopers were hid away in those 1,2, and 3 garage doors in Ricco Harbor. It was always my headcanon that he lived in 1, his bloopers lived in 2, and 3 was where they'd gather together and watch tv or something.

This is why Mario Sunshine is my favourite 3D Mario platformer. It's undoubtedly jank and a bit difficult, bit I adore it's tropical aesthetic. There's loads of little details that create a sense of wordbuilding that I don't think the other 3D Mario games can match. It's such a peaceful place with lots of random spots that are oddly relaxing.

New headcanon: Piantas can fit in those tiny doors because they're like big inflatable balloons with mostly air inside, it would make sense for a race of people that evolved on an island, they probably developed inner air sacs in case they fell into the ocean.

Episode 6 of Ricco Harbor, in the "market" shown at 6:40, features my favorite bit of dialogue in the whole game: "Freeeesh fish! Cheap Cheep-Cheep! Fishy fishy fisssh! Drop 'em in the ocean, and they'll swim away! They're that fresssh!" xD

Putting a subtle timer on your B-roll footage is an incredible touch and it really adds to how comfortable and relaxing these videos are to watch!

Watching this is like watching a Bob Ross video. - You love it. - You relax. - And watch the video's entirety. I loved the first video, and the second follows lol

Actually, that beehive by the hot spring in Pianta Village is as bad as you remember. You need to take Yoshi there and eat every bee for a blue coin, but if you get unlucky, the bees can kinda just stunlock you and push you off the ledge. Especially bad if you're there near the end of a 100 coin run, since those bees are a good source of coins.

great video, but just to say: Super Mario Land 2 also allows you to walk around it's save menu, Sunshine is not the only mainline Mario game to do this.

your channel is so slept on dude. not just this strange and mundane series, but your other stuff too

Im impressed you didn't mention the fact that serena beach's layout is a gamecube controller Love these videos btw!

I literally watched the first video yesterday hoping that there was a second part out already, got bummed that there wasn't, then I woke up to this just now. This is like Christmas morning holy shit.

The levels in Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon had a similar effect on me. They were all so unique and had these little details that told a bigger story about the setting.

That interior racetrack always reminded me of Lego Island's crazy interior and otherworldly racetracks. Great video, Sunshine is an all time favorite of mine

You wish your eyes were blind to such details? Bro don't lie to us, thats a nice & peaceful way to look at the wrld. Awesome way to think :)

the weird racing sewage tunnel underneath Rico Harbor is the perfect secret spot for teenagers to hang out. If they could jump like Mario that is.

5:47 “You don’t just say perchance”

Regarding the palm tree lamp posts there is actually one specific one you can climb in only one episode.

The blooper racetrack is one giant liminal space. I liked to imagine what would it be like to fight all the bosses at once using that giant flat area in the racetrack.

"the only mario game to have you control your character on the save selection screen." *Cries in Mario Land 2

I think this video and the previous one helped me realize what makes Mario Sunshine so special and memorable for me compared to other Mario games; how it uses a restrictive setting to promote unique environmental design, and understands that not everything needs to exist for the player's benefit. Most Mario games involve traveling to self-contained fantasy worlds with no apparent relation to each other, so they can be designed without worrying about consistency with the rest of the game. Meanwhile, not only is Sunshine's setting more realistic (aside from the platforming challenge areas), it's also set in a closed space. The levels aren't isolated worlds in the middle of nowhere; they're geographical locations on the same tropical island, whether it's the communities where everyone lives, the harbor where everyone works, or the beachside cabana and resort where everyone goes for leisure. Lots of details listed in this video and the previous one have no gameplay significance whatsoever, they're just there to remind you that you're running through a world that has its own culture and history. Just because you don't have a use for Gelato Beach's swing or Ricco Harbor's market or Serena Beach's "pleasant spots" doesn't mean they shouldn't be there, it isn't 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 island after all. You're intruding on a world that doesn't revolve around you, and you just have to make do with what's presented to you. You can tell that the environmental designers took a lot of care to have the "outside" area stay consistent about where everything was too. Where each level is in relation to each other and the shape of the island itself are always the same, no matter which part of the world you're looking from. Just another reminder that you're not in a nonsense wonderland that has no rules; you're in an 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦. TL;DR: Isle Delfino feel like a real, lived-in place, and I really like that EDIT: Upon re-watching the last Sunshine video, turns out I just repeated a lot of things from that video. The point still stands though

Fun fact: Orange and Blue go well together because theyre on opposite ends of the colour spectrum. You can also see this with Mario and Luigi because Green and Red are the same.

I remember having the exact same thought about the rivers in Bianco Hills. Wondering where they led to beyond the boundaries of the level. Another noteworthy detail is that Pianta Village is the only stage where you can see Noki Bay in the background.

When I was a kid, I always compulsively cleaned the entirety of Pianta Village after getting Fludd back lol

Sunshine is the only 3D Mario I didn’t play (until the 3D collection came out), but I am obsessed with Videos like this. I love the way you include little intermissions for us to take it all in!

I absolutely love videos like this! Thank you so much for providing this niche Sunshine content. It's amazing for a Sunshine truther like myself.

I always thought that the reason why so much of delfino’s buildings looked built into walls or mountain sides was because the Piantas preferred to build under all the massive hills and mountains on the island instead of putting all that effort into terraforming, I also imagined that piantas generally preferred having houses built into the ground because the underground areas are much cooler which provides a more comfortable place to sleep and relax.

I’m so thankful I stumbled onto your channel the other day. Sunshine is such a great game. Sirena Beach best stage ever ! My favorite for sure

These have been some of my favorite videos recently! So stoked you did another for this game!

The bottomless pit of the pianta village might be a dormant volcano, maybe the tectonic plates have moved and so has the hot spot, similarly to how the chain of islands of Hawaii formed. Speaking of volcanic activity, perhaps that’s the source of so many of the waterfalls that come out of odd places. Maybe they’re hotsprings

I’m so glad that someone else was mortified of that beehive in particular. I still remember the fear I would feel approaching it… amazing video by the way!! It’s cool to know someone else appreciated all of these little places like I did as a kid, I relate so hard to this series.

I love your relaxing, thoughtful, yet relatable videos like this! Thanks!

The fact that you can cheese the lava stage where you don't have Fludd with the river water always stuck out to me as something super cool as a kid. I think that's why I started to love breaking games and finding unintended ways to win stuff later in life.

This was a game i played a lot as a pre-teen. I would often boot up the game on a weekend alone and just hang out in these beachy areas. I beat the game as an adult a couple of years ago, but honestly, playing and beating the game wasn’t even why I loved it so much. It was just a nice set of stages to immerse yourself in.

If I was working on a remaster of Mario Sunshine, I would put remnants of construction up on that flat plan in the blooper tunnel. An old faded, toppled construction barrier. A discarded brick trowel. Fast food wrappings. Maybe a broken down cement mixer with a wheel lying off to the side. Just stuff you would see in real life in an area never meant to be seen in real life.

When it comes to doors seemingly being human sized, there were a few humans seen in the Space World 2001 trailer for Mario Sunshine, although there were piantas as well. One of the concepts for Fludd was also having him just be a guy that follows Mario around and holds a hose or something. So at the very least, humans were intended to be in Sunshine at one point, although I don't think anybody knows if Piantas were intended to be in the game from the beginning, or if that Space World 2001 trailer was the inbetween point of them switching from humans to Piantas.

I loooooved Hotel Siena growing up. I would just imagine I was a hotel guest and explore the level for hours. That and the Air Strip (for whatever reason) were just levels I loved hanging out in to give Mario a break.

Sirena Beach is my favorite level in the entire game. I look forward to playing this game just so I can go there. Did you know that the area outside the hotel resembles a GameCube controller? The pools, huts, and bricks are structured like one. I like how the hotel room doors are locked. And the hotel opened them up so you can help them fight shadow Mario. I love the weird route you take by jumping up through the ceiling above the toilet and jumping through the paintings and posters you spray to get through the wall. And the revolving bookcase and ceiling and floor panels and smashing through mirrors to the room below you. So much nostalgia! What an amazing and beautiful game all around!

Fun fact: if you didn't know, the outside area of Sirena beach looks like a GameCube controller. It's easier to see if you pan the camera above Mario while he's facing the shore and standing in front of the stairs that lead to the hotel🙂

This is the stuff this game's detractors don't get. It all may seem rather unimportant, but if you've played the game as a child, you know very well how many of these little things are part of your memories.

Another thing I think is often overlooked in this game is NPC dialogue. They have some interesting things to say, and some of them actually have their own side stories to tell that evolve after each episode in a world. I plan on recording many of these instances to capture the lives of the Isle Delfino residents.

Half surprised that it wasn't mentioned that Sirena Beach is shaped like a Gamecube controller. I especially like how the fountains represents the control stick.

Am I crazy or is there a sparkle at the top left corner during the entire video 😂 Great video btw. I can never get tired at exploring sunshine's awesome world

I like the blocked off streams in bianco hills. I always wondered if they lead to the spillway at the bottom of rico harbour. It made the whole world feel connected, like you're on one big island and not stages.

I think the giant cage in Rico Harbor is some kind of diving cage. Like, when it's fully lowered into the water, the bottom touches the sea floor, but the top is at around surface level. So a diver could go down the cage to get at whatever's on the sea floor, without needing to worry about getting attacked by sharks or bloopers or something, since those wouldn't be able to get through the cage. I imagine it's popular for tourists! Bring a waterproof camera and take some absolutely dazzling ocean photos from your own little sea-gazebo.

Super Mario Sunshine is one of my favorite games of all time, and I just love Isle Delfino as a setting. It just nails the summer vacation vibes so well, and I was so disappointed it didn’t return in Odyssey. Thank you for covering everything I love about this place!

I'm surprised I haven't found this channel sooner. I absolutely love just hanging out in worlds of games i like, noticing small fun details, really thinking about what it'd be like for the people who just live in these worlds

Earlier on in development, there were stylized humans instead of piantas, which may explain the small doors to some extent. As for in the world of the finished game... I dunno; maybe piantas can shrink or scrunch themselves down or something.

for the blooper surfing, i think that people watch blooper surfing races and the little platforms are spectator stands

"What if you just walked around?" These videos are so fun because this is basically how I "played" games as a kid. If there was a somewhat open world, I didn't know how to progress. Too young, too dumb. I just explored, not dissimilar to how you do for these videos, and made my own game out of the little roleplaying I did in my head. Visiting the market, "buying" fruit, going to the amusement park, etc..

I feel the exact same way about Sirena Beach, it's always the level I look forward to unlocking the most every time I play through the game. Hotel Delfino is my happy place. Some rich Mario fanatic should buy some land in a tropical place and make an exact replica of Sirena Beach and hotel. I'd stay there

I always ALWAYS thought the numbers on the garage doors meant that they were used in some kind of puzzle in one of the stages. It drove me absolutely nuts as a kid. Especially with them being next to the weird dead squid boats, they were so mysterious.

There’s no crazy platforms or challenges... EXACTLY. This is why I love Sunshine's locations so much, while I care so little about those of other Mario games. Delfino Island looks like a real place, some place where you could genuinely spend your vacation. The developpers blended the platforming into the background so perfectly and seamlessly, that it still feels like a real place. This game, despite its massive flaws, is built around a genius design philosophy I can only wish Nintendo will bring back someday.

Sunshine's file select was probably taken as an idea from Super Mario Land 2, 6 Golden Coins.

I cannot believe I am just now discovering this series. I LOVE these videos. This is kind of how I play these kind of games. I like to go slow and really dive into the environment. Also I love LOVE LOVE that you give us time to breathe between each section. These videos are so calm, but still fun and engaging. I absolutely love this series.

I spent so much of my time playing this game just enjoying the visuals and the world. It's honestly such a gorgeous game with so many fun details! I was completely obsessed with it as a kid. LOL

0:30 Super Mario Land 2 for the Game Boy had a similar file select screen :) Loved to turn into the bomb and delete save files when I was young!

I always got the vibe isle Delfino was catered to be something like a vacation island for princess peach and her royal court, and not so much a public vacation destination.

for a video about small details, i will mention how i adore the small detail of the little minimising progress bar during the transitional bits of footage without talking.

God, walking around that blooper race really is surreal. The whole game is a bright, tightly-designed, tropical, platformer, and then you have the opportunity to walk around a dark, empty warehouse. And it’s not even out of bounds, or a glitch. They just let you

I haven't watched the whole video yet, but a thing I loved about this game is how how much of a sense of space it has and is trying to capture, no other mario game ever tried to take it that far (no clue about odyssey though, haven't played it and can't play it rn), it's so weird but so cool, I always joke about how this game makes more geographical sense than Dark Souls 2 lol

My ideas for the Rico harbour areas are that the garages are either storage areas or entrances to a kind of underground highway used to transport important stuff around the island. The cone I think is a base for some kind of new lighthouse or maybe a new bigger crane for the larger ships that might dock at Rico.

Glad I found a creator that loves weird/cute little spots in games as much as I do

Great video, homie. Especially the baby hittin' the nae nae during the Pianta Village B-Roll segment 😂

It's pretty great timing that this came out, I only just found out about and watched the first part to this yesterday. And while I'm not that far into this video so far, I wanna appreciate the point about this game making you interested in weird and obscure spots in video games in general. Not only can I relate to this heavily, but I wouldn't doubt that even Nintendo felt this way too when making Super Mario Galaxy 2, specifically with the Green Star placements. A lot of them you find in places that you'd initially think are out of bounds unless you got real adventurous during your playthrough of the game, and it only makes you wonder what other seemingly "unintended" areas that you don't know about are out there. Admittedly, I spent way too many hours reading the Mario Wiki hoping to find more obscure stuff like this as a kid.

When I was a kid I was always fascinated with the little tree area in Ricco Harbor all the way to the farthest corner of the stage near the suspended cage for the 8th shine. Feels so inaccessible

I’ve always loved seeing the other stages when playing Sunshine

Your thoughts on Sirena Beach really resonated with me. As a kid I never really payed attention to little details in games like this, but as I've gotten older I have more and more. Super Mario Odyssey was probably the first game I consciously did this, and the feeling of my cozy spots like the pool in New Donk City or just the entire Seaside Kingdom. Sirena Beach just reminds me a lot if what I love about the Seaside Kingdom looking back on it now. (still have ptsd from the shine with the pink boo platforms though...)

Just discovered your channel recently and, I just want to say I love these types of videos so much.

Excellent video, its always so interesting to see others perspective on Mario Sunshine as I also played it when I was a kid and enjoyed every second of it

Sirena Beach is what started my obsession with sunsets on videogame maps

Oh my god I feel so validated with you mentioning that filled in square in the Ricco Harbor secret. I’ve been thinking it’s weird ever since I was a kid. Are you my blood brother

Happy to see another Sunshine vid from you. I love these vibes!

Very glad that you covered the chasm with the clouds in Bianco Hills, that area has lived in my mind ever since I was a kid. Good video as always!

5:45, it's also worth noting that the Garage doors are numbered from right to left rather than left to right. Maybe the indigenous literature of the island is written right to left? I looked it up and unfortunately that's not the case, the Noki alphabet whose symbols can be seen in some levels and signs was recently figured out and the signs translated, and turns out it's written left to right. (seriously tho check out the video from 2CPhoenix on the matter, it's pretty neat stuff.) The doors being numbered the right to left is actually just a leftover from the Japanese version.

From what I've heard from a RU-vid video i watched quite a while ago, there was originally humans as nps in the game, and so the world was designed around that. It was later they replaced the humans with something more whimsical and Mario, but I guess they didn't bother updating the doorways.

Literally played the yoshi stage in Ricco harbor the other day and was DEADASS staring at the helicopter wondering how the pianta gets inside

Really loved this video, this is the kind of content I've been hoping for for a long time. Would really enjoy a longer form of this kind of thing. Maybe a live stream of your process of going around and observing the various area you use for footage for videos like this. Similar to the other comment saying this is kind of like a Bob Ross video, but it's nice to watch him go through the whole process, rather than chopped up edits of his painting. Think you get the point :p

The big structure they made was probably for fishing, cuz the bloop is in there. I also think the volcano may have been for a hot spring, the water everywhere and the tiled floor kinda makes me think of that.

I need to replay Mario Sunshine so I can re-appreciate all the details. Beautiful video.

I like to think the giant structure in ricco harbor is a giant juice blender like the watermelon one. They already have fruit stuff at the harbor and it kind of looks like a bottle, I guess… I thought it was a power plant, but given how offended the Piantas are by pollution, on top of the shine sprites basically replacing power, I don’t think they’d put one in the middle of the shore. Kinda curious about it, though… I wonder if Mario will ever return to isle Delfino. Probably not but maybe one day we’ll see it complete…

If you look at the outdoor area of Serena Beach from above, you will notice the design is based off a GameCube controller

Considering that Chunksters can throw a guy several miles behind them, I think that the plant people can, to some amount, get anywhere they want.

Talking about orange / blue and movie posters got me thinking about Stanley Kubrick's FMJ. It leans heavily on color to set a mood for a scene

I live this serise!! I felt the same way about a lot of these spots. As a kid i couldn’t afford a lot of games and I was obsessed with this one! So I used to go to levels like red coins in the coral reef just to play around and hang out in my favourite spots. It feels so cool knowing there’s a community who love the environments like I did!

crazy to think, someone almost has the same thoughts as i did as a kid, this also being one of the first games i owned. atmosphere is unmatched.

Sunshine is my favorite 3D Mario game because it was the first game I managed to emulate on my mid computer back in the mid 2000s. Lol

I always figured those garages near the start were full of extra parts for the boats and cranes. They have to get repaired some time, yeah? Could also be cargo, since these are shipping boats.

As a kid, I thought the broken path in Corona Mountain was remains of Bowser's Fortress or something, like from an old game, and he came back to the mountain.

I always hear and read about people around my age first playing Gamecube or PS2 when they were younger, and here I am having had a SNES and NES for my first systems. Strangely my parents skipped out on the N64, but they got me a Gamecube the day it came out and I remember playing the heck out of Luigi's Mansion. I think Gamecube/Wii and DS are the most memorable moments for me in terms of my history with video games. Though to be fair, I haven't really had as much fun with games since those times. I'm going to assume a big part of that is age and likely nostalgia, because games just as good have absolutely released since then.

That boat was one of my least favorite parts in any game of the time. I thought I got it down once, then I realized it had swing. The process of actually getting to Bowser was so slow and tedious, I was glad the final cloud section and actual fight were so easy!

My guess for how Piantas enter and exit Bianco Hills is by air, such as by helicopter or airship, in which case Mario starts each episode there at the landing pad.

"I wondering how well you know the stages to the game and know which one i haven't mentioned yet" Noki Bay? Pinta Park? That Beach with all the ducks? "I'm Talking about Serina Beach" Ah, the hotel

Great video dude, I listen to Sirena Beach's OST when I'm programming - hits the spot like nothing else.

It’s crazy I got recommended like 2 days ago your first sunshine video,I went on your channel to see there was a part 2 and didn’t see it,now it’s uploaded ,crazy timing

Man I’d love videos like this about Galaxy

I have to say, Sunshine looks so good for a game that is 22 years old.

In my opinion, the giant yellow cage in Rico Harbor looks like a massive fishing net to me. It kinda makes sense since its a Large boat harbor/fish market